“We’re going to be in the second ice skating rink, okay?” I told Ethan as he and Riley made their way toward the ice rink that they were supposed to be at. “If you need anything at all, we’ll be there!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he only muttered, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at him. “I’m not going to need you. I’d let the murderer get me before I called out to you for help.”

I was never going to understand why that kid hated me so much. All I could do was hope that we’d be able to get along someday, even if I didn’t have to deal with him in the future.

Johnny and I quickly made our way to the ice rink, this being our first official date, if you didn’t count the first time we had been here. Though he had to bring Sadie along with us, she didn’t want to skate, so she was sitting off to the side guarding our shoes. We could see her from the ice rink, and she seemed to be very fascinated with playing with our laces.

“I thought you said you knew how to skate,” Johnny told me with a grin when I nearly wiped out the second I got on the ice, and I bit the inside of my lip as I tried to stand up straight. “Were you lying to me, Maxynn?”

“No,” I replied defensively, which sure made it look like I had lied to him. “I did know how to skate. I just haven’t skated in a while, so I guess I kind of forgot how.”

“Well, I’ll teach you then,” he grinned, taking my hands and slowly moving us out farther onto the ice. It scared me a little, because I literally had no idea what I was doing, but I felt so much better with Johnny there with me.

When my phone started ringing in my pocket, I let out a groan and reached for it. When I saw that I was getting a call from Zach, I groaned even louder but answered it anyway.

“What?” I snapped.

“Having fun on your date?”

“What do you want?” I demanded, not in the mood to speak with him while I was on a date with my boyfriend. “I’m kind of busy right now.”

“Yeah, well…” Zach started, and I knew I wasn’t going to like this one bit. “You kind of need to come home.”

“What?” I practically screeched. “No, I’m on a date!”

“You should be watching my brother.”

“You should be watching your brother!”

“I already kind of have my hands full,” Zach said now, and I could have sworn that I heard something crash. “Will you please just come home so I don’t have to deal with this monster by myself?”

“Monster?” I repeated, having no idea what he was talking about. “What the hell do you mean?”

“My mom went out shopping with her friend Cecilia or whatever,” Zach informed me, and he sounded so stressed out that it was almost funny. “And they left Cecilia’s daughter with me. I have absolutely no idea how to deal with her, and I know that you’re good with kids, so…”

“And just how am I good with kids?” I questioned, not sure if I agreed with him or not.

“Well, you haven’t killed Ethan yet.”

I let out a sigh, looking over at Johnny, who was looking at me in concern and confusion. I really wanted to stay on the date with him, but I couldn’t let Zach’s house be destroyed because he had no idea what he was doing. Then it would be the second time that I didn’t have a place to stay…

“Fine, Zach,” I finally gave in, knowing that he wasn’t going to shut the hell up until I did as he said anyway. “But what am I supposed to do about Ethan? He’s in the middle of practice, and I can’t just leave him here.”

“Just pull him out,” Zach informed me, and I heard another crash. “They’ll let you take him if you say it’s an emergency.”

“Is this an emergency?” I had to ask, afraid that it was a lot worse than it sounded, and it sounded pretty bad.

“Well, you just might find a dead body when you get back here.”

I gasped, hoping that he wasn’t capable of something like that. “Don’t you dare hurt that girl, Zach!”

“I was talking about me!”

I let out a sigh, Johnny and I both heading toward the exit of the ice rink to put our shoes on. “I’ll be back as soon as I can! Just try not to die, will you?”

I hung up the phone before he could even answer, very ticked off that my date with Johnny was being cut short because of Zach. I should have known that something like this was going to happen, since it was Zach and everything.

“What’s wrong?” Johnny asked as we sat down to change our shoes. “Is everything okay?”

“Zach’s just being the unreliable guy that he always is,” I sighed, explaining to him how he was babysitting some girl and he needed my help because he was pretty much helpless when it came to anything but flirting. “He needs my help because he has no idea what he’s doing.”

Johnny let out a sigh, and we hurried to the second ice rink to get his brother and the demon boy. They were both very unhappy to be pulled out from their practice, but I didn’t even care about how they felt right then. I wasn’t exactly happy about being pulled from my date with Johnny either.

“Are you sure you’re not leaving early so you could just spend time with Zach?” Ethan asked from the backseat as Johnny drove us back to the house.

I spun around in my seat as I growled, “The last person I want to spend time with is Zach. Not counting you.”

Ethan scowled. “The feeling’s mutual.”

The rest of the ride was silent, which I was sure grateful for. Ethan had seen Zach and I kissing even though I was dating Johnny, and yet he said absolutely nothing about it at all. I didn’t get it, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t happy that he was keeping his mouth shut.

“Can I see Zachy?” Sadie asked, sounding very excited to see the guy she had a crush on. “Can I please see him, Johnny? Please?”

“Zach’s kind of busy right now, Sadie,” Johnny informed his little sister, and it really wasn’t a lie. “He’s with another girl that he needs help with.”

“Zachy’s cheating on me?” Sadie gasped, and it made me want to laugh. “With who? With who? Let me at her, let me at her!”

She kicked at the back of Johnny’s seat, and the way she was acting made me laugh because she was still in a car seat. Therefore, she was way too young for Zach.

“He’s not cheating on you,” Ethan snapped, obviously fed up with Sadie’s whining. “He’s just babysitting some other girl.”

Sadie said nothing to the ten-year-old boy beside her, and it was obvious that the two of them didn’t like each other very much. Not that I was very surprise, since getting along and liking Ethan seemed like a hard thing to do.

“Thanks for driving us,” I told Johnny once we rolled to a stop in front of Zach’s house. “I’m really sorry that our date got cut short.”

“It’s fine,” he assured with a smile, leaning forward and kissing me. Ethan let out a disgusted groan, getting out of the car as quickly as he could so he wouldn’t have to see us kissing any longer.

I quickly said goodbye to both Johnny and Riley before slipping out of the car and hurrying my way toward the front door, where Ethan was waiting to be let in. I didn’t get why he didn’t just ring the doorbell, since Zach was home, but I didn’t even bother to ask.

I used the key that I was given from Brianna to open the door, expecting the house to look like a complete mess. But much to my surprise, it was in order and both Zach and the little girl were on the couch watching TV.

“I thought everything was out of control,” I nearly growled, about to hit him over the head if he had made me come home for no reason. Ethan hurried up the stairs without even looking at his brother or the little girl, but I wasn’t bothered by this in the slightest. “Did you make me come home just because I was on a date with Johnny?”

“Nah, I really was having trouble,” Zach told me, a smirk plastered on his face like it always was. “But then I made her hot chocolate and she calmed down a little. I’m still going to need your help, just in case she started up again.”

“I’m seriously going to kill you one of these days,” I couldn’t help but say.

“This is Freya,” Zach introduced lazily, ignoring my threat as he jabbed his thumb in the direction of the little girl beside him.

“Hi, Freya,” I smiled down at her, unsure of what I was supposed to do. “I’m Maxynn, a friend of Zach’s. I live here, too. So… how old are you?”

She looked up at me, her big brown eyes shining. “I’m five,” she informed me, sticking up five fingers. She was probably one of the cutest little kids that I had ever seen in my entire life. She definitely beat       Ethan, who was more like a demon than anything else.

I smiled slightly, and then pointed toward the boy next to her. “You must have had a horrible time with Zach here, huh?”

Freya looked between the both of us, and then her eyebrows furrowed as she thought. “Are you two boyfriend and girlfriend?” she asked innocently without even answering my question, and I felt my cheeks heat up for a reason that I didn’t know. All I knew was that I should not have been blushing about something that had to do with Zach.

“No! We’re only friends,” I smiled meekly, even though that wasn’t even the truth. I didn’t know what I was to Zach, but I was pretty sure we weren’t friends. Friends with benefits maybe, but definitely not friends.

“Oh… Well, do you have any babies?” she asked me now, and my jaw dropped before I could say anything. Was she seriously asking me this question?

I shook my head quickly, still not able to say anything. Was she like the innocent version of Ethan? Was she smarter than she should have been for her age? I sure hoped not, because I’d probably die if she was.

“N—no, I don’t have any babies,” I told her, not even about to look at Zach. Who knew what he looked like right now? Probably smug, if I had to guess.

Freya looked upset, but then turned toward Zach. “What about you? Do you have any babies?”

I finally looked at him, only to see a smug look on his face, which I was expecting. I didn’t think I wanted to know what he was going to say.

“No, not that I know of,” he simply shrugged.

“Zach!” I snapped. “Don’t say something like that in front of a five-year-old!”

“Okay, Mom,” he replied with a mere rolled his eyes. He then turned toward the child and said, “Freya, I don’t have any babies.”

Freya’s eyebrows furrowed together in thought, but her eyes then lit up as she exclaimed, “You two can make a baby together!”

My eyes widened, my cheeks turning even redder than they had ever been before. Looking over at Zach, I wasn’t surprised to see that this didn’t even faze him at all. He even looked like he even agreed with the child standing before us.

“Well, Freya, we can’t make a baby,” I started quickly, wanting to get off of this subject as quickly as possible. Zach was obviously enjoying this way too much. “We’re not married. You need to be married to have a baby.”

Freya shook her head. “Then you two can get married now!”

“But we can’t,” I nearly snapped now, catching myself when I remembered that she was still just a child. “You need to be in love to get married.”

“But don’t you and Zach love each other?”

Before we could answer her, we heard footsteps coming down the stairs and Ethan walked into the room. His eyebrows rose when he saw Freya, since he hadn’t seen her before stomping up the stairs once we had gotten home, and now Freya scrambled off the couch and skipped over to him.

The younger girl tugged on his pants as she said, “You and I are going to get married!”

Ethan’s eyes widened. “What?”

I nearly burst out laughing. It wasn’t funny when it came to Zach and me, but it definitely was when it came to the little demon boy. Maybe I’d finally have something to make fun of him for after this…

“Can you marry us?” Freya now asked Zach, who looked like he was about to burst out laughing just as much as I was.

“Sure, kid,” he laughed, and Ethan looked like he was going to stab his brother.

“Yay!” the little girl giggled, and I couldn’t help but let out a snort. This caused Ethan to glare at me, but I only stuck my tongue out at him. Finally, I was going to be the one to make fun of him. This was going to be great.

“Freya, do you take Ethan as your husband?” Zach asked, very amused by this whole situation. It had started out horrifying, but now it was seriously hilarious, and all because Ethan was miserable.

Freya nodded quickly. “I do!” she smiled, jumping up and down.

“Ethan, do you take Freya as your wife?” Zach grinned now, and I would have thought that this whole situation was adorable if it wasn’t even more hilarious.

“Not really,” Ethan muttered until I elbowed him in the side. He glared at me like he always did. “I mean, yeah… of course I do.”

“Okay,” Zach nodded, and I gave him a look that told him not to tell them to kiss. I wasn’t that mean, even if it was Ethan. “You may now high-five the bride.”

Freya jumped up to smack Ethan’s hand, and he was definitely less than amused by this whole ordeal.

“Okay!” Freya smiled. “Now it’s Zach and Maxynn’s turn!”

“What?” I nearly choked, since I had thought that she had forgotten about Zach and me marrying each other. Did she want us to make a baby that badly? “Freya, I don’t think--”

She yanked us both closer to each other and asked simply, “Do you take each other as husband and wife?”

Well, she sure got to the point quickly…

Zach and I stared at each other for a moment before I got the nerve to say, “I do.”

I might have as well gone along with it, right? It wasn’t like it was real or anything, and I was just making a little girl happy. It was the least I could do, since she probably had a horrible time with Zach before I got there…

I noticed Zach smirk before saying, “I do.”

“You may now kiss the bride!” she giggled, and I almost did a double take at her.

“How about we just have a nice high-five like you and Ethan?” I suggested, not wanting to kiss Zach in front of his brother and a five-year-old. Though I had kissed him many times before, I hadn’t ever kissed him in front of other people.

“No,” Freya whined, now poking at my leg. “Kiss, kiss!”

Before I could protest anymore, Zach clutched onto my arm and yanked me toward him, crashing his lips to mine as he dipped me, which didn’t make me feel any less embarrassed. This only made Freya squeal with excitement and Ethan make a gagging noise.

Freya started jumping up and down once Zach and I pulled away, and then ran over to the table, grabbing a piece of paper and a marker. She wrote something sloppily on before handing it to me. I looked down at it, wanting to throw up when I saw what it said.

“Zach and Maxynn are now married,” I read out loud as Zach looked over my shoulder to see what it said. I saw him smirk out of the corner of my eye, which really made me want to kick him. “Why don’t you make one for you and Ethan?”

“Oh, yeah!” she exclaimed, as if she had forgotten that she had just gotten married minutes before. “I’ll do that right now!”

“I’ll just burn it,” Ethan growled at me, low enough so Freya wouldn’t hear it.

I glared at him as I said, “And that’s why I’m going to keep it.”

When I heard the front door open, I spun in the direction of it to see Brianna stepping inside, along with a woman that I assumed was Freya’s mother. They both had shopping bags in their arms, and it made me wish that I had gone with them so I wouldn’t have a piece of paper that said I was married to Zach.

“Maxynn,” Brianna blinked, looking concerned. “Why is your face so red, sweetie? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” I excused, even though I wasn’t so sure if that was the truth.

“Well, we can take Freya from you now…” Brianna said. She looked from Ethan’s disgusted face, to my flustered one, and then to Zach’s smug one. Freya ran over and jumped into her mother’s arms, and they both headed right toward the door.

“Next time I see you, I want to see the baby you guys make!” Freya waved over her mother’s shoulder to Zach and me before they was gone.

Brianna looked at the two of us in confusion. “Do I even want to know?”

“No,” I groaned.

“Though it’s a very amusing story,” Zach added, and I couldn’t agree with him.

“Oh, I almost forgot to give you your payment,” Brianna told her son now before she went upstairs, and then dug in her pocket and pulled out something green. She tossed it at Zach, who caught it easily, much to my dismay.

“This is my payment?” he asked, holding out the green bag in distaste. “You’re giving me Sour Patch Kids for watching that child for hours?”

His mother shrugged simply. “Yep.”

Ethan took the bag from his brother’s hands, but Zach snatched it back from him. They glared at each other for a few moments before Ethan tried to snatch it from him again, but Zach was too fast. It was actually kind of amusing.

“Nuh-uh,” Zach said, sticking his tongue out at his little brother.

“I got married for you!” he cried, but that only caused him to stick his tongue out again, and this time I laughed. Ethan only scowled before rolling his eyes and heading for the stairs. Zach then opened the bag and pulled out a yellow one.

“Hey, Ethan,” he called out before his brother could get to the stairs, and Ethan turned back towards us.

“What?” he asked, still obviously ticked off about having to get married, and not getting any candy obviously didn’t help.

Zach smirked even wider as he said, “Open.”

Ethan gave him a confused look, but then understood. He opened his mouth, and Zach tossed the yellow piece of candy, which landed in his brother’s mouth perfectly. Ethan grinned, chewing on it as he went up the stairs.

And I wouldn’t admit it out loud, but it was one of the most adorable things I had ever seen in my entire life.

“Well, that was fun…” I sighed, plucking the bag from his hands and taking out a green one, popping it in my mouth after I had done so.

“Hey,” he snapped with a smirk on his face, grabbing the bag from me before I could take anymore out. He then pulled out a green one for himself as he said, “These are mine.”

“Hey, I did a hell of a lot more than you did!” I nearly growled, reaching for the bag again. “And stop eating all the green ones! The green ones are my favorite!”

He chuckled, “They’re my favorite, too.”

I was now able to snatch the bag from him again, this time taking a green and red one out at the same time before placing them in my mouth. Even though I would have rather had money for babysitting, that didn’t mean that I didn’t love the taste of this candy.

Zach took the bag from me again, popping more in his mouth and sticking his tongue out at me after he had done so.

“Stop it,” I whined, grabbing the bag away from him again. I now saw that there was a few left, since Zach had already eaten so many. That bastard sure had a big mouth.

He only smirked, but that wasn’t much of a surprise. He always had to smile at my misery.

“I want a divorce,” I told him as I pursed my lips. He merely shrugged, plucking the bag out of my hands before popping another green one into his mouth.    

“Fine, but I get custody of the kids.”

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Trailer on the side! :D I'm actually very happy with it. xD

I just found this chapter to be hilarious during certain points. I don't even know why. xD

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